Indeed Shiba Inus are not for the faint-hearted, and they are not recommended for first-time dog owners.

Shiba Inu Training Secrets.

Despite this warning, my heart was already set on a Shiba Inu puppy. I had a lot of free time then, so I thought I would be able to handle one little dog. After all, how difficult can a small puppy be?

Little did I know, a Shiba Inu can be a major pain in the ass!

Even dog veterans have problems with their first Shiba. In fact, many experienced trainers were unable to handle my Shiba Sephy.

Here are the Shiba Inu training secrets that helped me turn my devil dog into a model citizen. Well, maybe not a model citizen, but a fun citizen that I truly enjoy living with.

Do not be fooled - A Shiba Inu can be a major pain in the ass.

1. There are No Miracle Cures

When I first got Shiba Sephy, he was a big challenge.

Some of his favorite daily activities include biting my hands, running crazily around the house, biting on curtains, vicious leash biting, jumping on me and others, humping my leg, and much more.

I was desperate to get him under control, and did a lot of research online and off-line. I read a lot of online articles and bulletin boards. I called local dog trainers, watched all the dog training shows on television, and read a lot of dog training books.

During this time, I found something that looked like a miracle … a 10 minute Shiba online training program. According to this advertisement, there were some special “Shiba words” that will magically turn a Shiba into a Lassie. Yeah right!

Luckily, I did not succumb to my desperation, and did not buy this product.

The fact is, there are NO “miracle cures” for training a Shiba Inu.

The secret of Shiba training, is simply to exercise extreme patience, and find humor in our Shiba’s antics. Use reward obedience training, and always be firm but fair.

A Shiba will probably never be a Lassie, or perfect dog. However, if you are looking for a dog with a big personality, who will always make you laugh with his sneaky and roguish ways, then the Shiba Inu is for you.

A Shiba Inu will never be a model citizen but he will most surely make you laugh and smile.

2. Use Passive Resistance

2. Use Passive Resistance.

Shiba Inus get bored easily and do not like being ignored.

The best way to deal with Shiba Inu misbehavior is through passive resistance.

Shibas get bored easily and do not like being ignored. They really enjoy their freedom, and also like being close to their human pack. We can control a Shiba best by controlling these most desired resources: our attention, and his freedom.

If we actively try to stop our Shiba either through physical punishment (e.g. alpha rolls, leash jerk) or active restraint, he will fight back. This encourages him to practice rough play, and biting on people.

If we back away, or become fearful of our Shiba, he will learn that he “wins” by showing dog aggression.

If we over-correct our Shiba by exerting too much physical force, or by correcting him too frequently, we will lose his trust, and it is difficult to regain a Shiba Inu’s trust.

What works best with a Shiba is NOT to engage in a physical competition, but rather to engage in a mental one.

There are certain resources that Sephy really enjoys including walks, treats, toys, and his freedom.

When I want to take him on his walk, I go to the door with his lead, and call him to me. Initially, he would dally and not really want to come, because he wants to go walking on his own schedule. I count to three. If he does not come, I leave and go about my own business.

After a short time, Sephy will amble over, and pester me to take him on his walk. This is done through begging, and whining. I ignore all this bad dog behavior. When I have a break in my schedule again, I repeat the above exercise.

A Shiba will quickly learn that to get the resources that he wants most (e.g. go on walks), he has to do it according to our rules, and our schedule. It is important to practice the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program with a Shiba.

Set a Shiba Inu up for success, so that we can reward him frequently, and keep him interested in doing what we want.

Another Shiba favorite is to steal something he is not supposed to, and then run away with it, thereby engaging a fun chase game.

A Shiba Inu is very agile, and it will be difficult for us to catch him. I always try to keep an eye out for my sneaky Shiba, and stop him before he steals an object. I also put a drag lead on him, so that I can easily catch him by stepping on the lead.

Note: Use a regular flat collar with the drag lead, and not an aversive collar. Aversive collars such as prong collars or choke chains, should only be used during supervised training sessions. Cut the loop on the drag-lead, so that it does not catch on anything in the house.

Only give our Shiba Inu attention when he refrains from bad Shiba behaviors.

3. Rules, Rules, Rules

3. Rules, Rules, Rules.

No biting on people. Shiba Inu Sephy is redirected onto a toy.

Shiba Inus are naturally dominant. If we do not provide them with rules, that we consistently enforce, they will take over the house.

It is best to enforce those rules as early as possible. This ensures that Shiba does not develop any bad habits later on, that will be more difficult to break.

Some of Shiba Sephy’s rules:

1. No Biting

The most important rule that I place on Sephy, is no biting on people. Shiba Inus are a very mouthy breed. Their instinct is to use their mouth in a wide variety of situations, including when they are excited, frustrated, and fearful.

They also have large teeth, and can accidentally hurt children and seniors. If Sephy starts biting on me or on others, I no-mark the behavior (Ack, ack). If he continues, I put him on a time-out.

It is also important to teach a Shiba bite inhibition. In this way, when he loses control of himself and does bite, he will not cause much harm.

No food aggression.

No rough play with people.

2. No Food Aggression or Resource Guarding

Prevent our Shiba Inu from guarding resources. Shibas have a don’t back down, don’t surrender attitude. Therefore, the best way to teach them not to guard resources, is to use reward training techniques.

Show them that people and other dogs coming near them, while they are eating or playing with their toys, is a good thing. Prevent stealing, and practice exchanging objects. This teaches them that giving up something, does not mean it is gone forever.

If we use physical force to grab a toy away from our Shiba, he will likely become more possessive over his objects. He will also lose trust in us, and may use aggression to protect himself, and his belongings.

3. No Rough Play

I do not play rough with Sephy. He gets to wrestle with my other dogs, but no wrestling is allowed with humans.

I also do not play any dominance games with him, for example, no Tug-of-War. The few times that I did play Tug with Shiba Sephy, he followed very strict rules during the game. However, when I took him out for walks, he would start playing tug with the leash (leash biting).

Shiba Inu Sephy only does rough play with other dogs.

4. Socialize Our Shiba Inu

4. Socialize Our Shiba Inu.

Socialize our young Shiba Inu to many sights, sounds, and smells.

Shiba Inus have an extreme play style that many dogs may not like.

Shiba Inus can get aggressive to unfamiliar things including objects, dogs, people, and environments.

They are also naturally stubborn, and may become aggressive when forced to do things that they do not like.

Socialize our young Shiba to many sights, sounds, and smells, and he will be ready to handle new things as a confident, and well-balanced adult. Make sure that new experiences are always positive, and at worst, neutral.

Some things to consider while socializing our Shiba Inu:

1. Shiba Inus have an extreme play style, that many dogs may not like.

When he was young, I used to take Sephy to enclosed dog parks. During this time, his favorite play partners were larger dogs, and young Pit Bulls. Shibas like doing wrestling and rough play, which can easily overwhelm other small dogs.

Choose our Shiba’s play-mates carefully, so that a fun time can be had by all.

Shiba Inus dislike handling.

2. Shiba Inus dislike handling.

Socialize a Shiba to touching and grooming, as early as possible. Pair the touch and groom sessions with very good treats, so that he will associate handling with positive experiences.

Do not use physical force to do any grooming. This will make it into an unpleasant experience, and our Shiba will fight us every step of the way.

Instead, groom gently, and make it short, fun, and rewarding.

3. Shiba Inus do not generally like people petting them from above.

Petting from above can be seen as a dominance move by dogs, and Shibas may see this as a threat.

We can slowly desensitize our Shiba to this move, by pairing head petting with good food rewards. At the same time, instruct people to approach from under our dog’s head, and scratch his chest.

Shiba Inus do not generally like people petting them from above.

5. Control Our Own Energy

An important thing to remember while interacting with our Shiba, is to control our own energy.

Shiba Inus are especially sensitive to the energy of their owners, and the people around them.

When I first got puppy Sephy, he was extremely mouthy. In particular, he would resort to biting when I stopped him from doing something unacceptable.

This made me become afraid of him.

The more afraid I became, the worse Sephy behaved. As soon as I got fearful, he would start to hump my leg, grab my clothes, jump on me, or bite my hands, arms, and legs.

5. Control Our Own Energy.

Anger and frustration will also elicit extreme Shiba Inu behaviors.

Anger and frustration will also elicit extreme Shiba behaviors.

In the early days, I had a dog walker take Sephy out for group walks at the park. When the walker tried to stop Sephy from doing something disruptive, he would object, and try out one of his Shiba moves, including alligator rolls, leash biting, hand biting, and of course the Shiba scream.

The dog walker naturally got embarrassed when Sephy screamed like he was about to die. There were other people around, and some of them thought that she was mistreating the poor dog. Sephy easily sensed her embarrassment and frustration. From then on, the Shiba scream was his favorite weapon to use against her.

With a Shiba Inu, it is important to stay calm at all times.

Once I was able to control my fear and remain calm, things improved significantly with my Shiba Inu.

With a Shiba Inu, it is important to stay calm at all times.

If we lose our cool, Shiba will sense it and continue to use this weakness against us.

The best way to handle a misbehaving Shiba, is to stay calm, and remove him to a quiet, lower stimulus area, as soon as possible. If he continues with his bad behavior, he gets his freedoms revoked with a time-out. Remember that fear, anger, frustration, and other extreme emotions will only make the problem worse.

Once I was able to control my fear and remain calm, things improved significantly with my Shiba.

Sephy will never be a model-citizen, but nowadays, he is actually very fun to be with. He is goofy, he is funny, and he usually stays out of serious trouble.

Shibas can be a big challenge to live with, but they are well worth the effort. They have a great personality, and they are always up to something that will make us laugh.

I love my Shiba Inu.

He is one of my best buddies, and whenever I see him, I just have to smile.

Gotta love a Shiba Inu!

Shiba Inus can be a challenge to care for, especially as a first dog. I wanted to do my very best for my Shiba Inu puppy but I still made many mistakes.

This is the story of Shiba Inu Sephy and me.

My Shiba Inu Story

Shiba Inu and Alpha Rolls

Because I was new to dogs, and Shiba Inus, I asked my breeder many questions. She recommended that I check out Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer for dog obedience training tips.

After 4 days, I took Sephy to the vet and she recommended that I return him because he was mouthy and not well behaved. The vet technician recommended that I check out Cesar Millan, and taught me how to implement alpha rolls.

I had already fallen in love with Sephy and was not about to give up on him so I bought some DVDs of The Dog Whisperer and started to do alpha rolls.

The results were bad. Shiba Inus are a feisty, stubborn, strong-willed breed, and my little Shiba fought every time I did an alpha roll on him. While he would be slightly subdued after an alpha roll, he would quickly go back to chewing everything, running around crazily, knocking things down, jumping on every piece of furniture, mouthing on me and other people, and much more.

Life became very difficult for both Shiba Inu Sephy and me.

A girl and her Shiba Inu.

Training My Shiba Inu

I signed Shiba Inu Sephy up for a puppy class to help with his dog socialization skills.

I signed Sephy up for a SIRIUS puppy class to help with his dog socialization skills and I also got a private trainer who is well-versed in aversive dog training.

After watching The Dog Whisperer, I was under the impression that I could only be pack leader if I showed my Shiba Inu who was boss through more forceful aversive methods.

All aversive methods deliver an unpleasant stimulus to the dog.
Some techniques such as the leash jerk and the electronic collar deliver pain. Saying that such techniques do not deliver pain, and is only used to get a dog’s attention is rubbish.

For such techniques to work effectively, it must deliver the proper level of pain so as to motivate a dog to follow our commands which will ultimately stop the pain. On the other hand, aversive methods may get more consistent and prompt responses, in the short-term, because pain is a strong motivator.

Sephy responded extremely well to my private trainer, Gary. Gary is extremely good with dogs and fearless. My Shiba would act out from time to time and mouth over Gary’s arms but he was able to easily stop this with some leash jerks (using a flat collar).

One time Sephy even placed his jaws on the trainer’s neck while being held, but Gary kept on holding him and had no problems calming Sephy down.

Gary taught me how to train my Shiba Inu using leash jerks or leash corrections. He cautioned me against over correcting and to always try and set Sephy up for success. He also instructed me not to give eye contact during corrections, and whenever possible, to try and redirect the source of corrections away from myself.

Sephy enjoyed his weekly one hour training lessons very much, and always gave Gary many licks. This experience showed me that aversive methods can sometimes work well if implemented by an expert with the right energy.

Gary taught me how to train my Shiba Inu using leash jerks or leash corrections.

Walking with My Shiba Inu

Sephy responded well to my leash jerks initially.

However, when he was extremely excited, for example when meeting other dogs, my jerks would have no effect. Our trainer ultimately recommended that I try out the prong collar and showed me how to fit it and put it on properly.

DO NOT try to slip a prong collar over your dog’s head like you do a choke chain. Refer to Prong Collar Info for proper instructions on how to use a prong collar.

People commonly refer to the prong collar as providing power steering for leash jerks. I.e. the prong amplifies the force of your leash jerks, thereby delivering more pain and a greater aversive stimulus to the dog.

The prong collar was extremely effective initially. I was always worried about hurting my Shiba Inu, so my leash jerks tended to be too soft. With the prong collar, they were just right.

When Shiba Inu Sephy was extremely excited, my leash jerks would have no effect.

My Shiba Inu and His Dog Walker

Shiba Inu Sephy a model citizen?!

Shiba Inu Sephy is King of the World.

At this time, I also enlisted the services of a dog walker/trainer, Betty (not her real name).

Betty also prescribes to the Cesar Millan, physical dominance type training. This suited me well at the time, because Betty did leash jerks and I thought consistency in techniques would be a good thing.

However, the situation started to go down hill from here.

Sephy became extremely sensitive towards handling. He would also constantly challenge Betty, by leash biting, hand biting, and doing alligator rolls (rolling on the ground to resist moving). Sephy also discovered that Betty really dislikes his high-pitched Shiba scream, and would constantly do this to great effect.

Betty did her best in trying to control the situation but her flavor of dog obedience training was clearly not working well. Finally, she wanted to escalate her leash jerks by using a choke chain.

Given the possible dangers of choke chains I decided that they are not an option.

Given the disturbing statistics on choke chains, they are not an option for my Shiba Inu.

I Did Not Choose Wisely

Electronic collars are inappropriate for Shiba Inus and pet dogs in general.

At this point, the leash jerks were also becoming less and less effective for me.

My Shiba was becoming habituated to them.

I was not implementing the leash jerks quickly enough so sometimes they were more like tugs and thus had no effect. I was also over-correcting and my leash jerks did not have enough force even with the prong collar.

To continue with aversive techniques, I would have to escalate the force of my leash jerks or switch to the electronic or shock collar. I was unwilling to go down this extreme path, so I decided to explore all other dog training possibilities.

Shiba Inu Sephy spits on electronic collars, leash jerks, and aversive dog training.

The Right Kind of Shiba Training

I stopped dog walking with Betty and started looking for a new dog trainer.

This time I checked out all types of trainers, rather than just the Cesar Millan, aversive type trainers.

While doing this, I received a fair amount of insults, scolding, and rabid preaching from trainers of the other camp, the reward dog training camp.

I always think it is rather ironic that many of the books and people who support the use of reward training (positive reinforcement training) would resort to aversive methods (insults, rabid preaching) when trying to convince other people of the effectiveness of their positive reinforcement methods.

Luckily, there were several reward dog trainers who practiced what they preached and based on their advice, I got the book Bones Would Rain From the Sky by Suzzane Clothier. After reading a few chapters,

I decided to stop using aversive methods and try using only reward obedience training.

Reward dog training with Shiba Inu Sephy.

Shiba Inu Sephy responds much better to reward based training.

Shiba Inu Sephy is a much happier dog with reward based training.

I would like to say that reward dog training worked like a charm and from then on everybody lived happily ever after.

Reality, of course, is a bit messier. First of all Sephy gets bored easily; with everything, even his food.

For the reward methods to work I had to identify a variety of dog treats that he liked and cycle through them so that he remains motivated throughout the day. I also got a greater variety of toys and used external opportunities, such as meeting other dogs and meeting people, as rewards.

Walking on a loose leash (without the use of leash jerks) was a bit challenging at first, but stopping and sometimes doing a 180 when the leash gets taut works very well.

A happy Shiba Inu Sephy eating his birthday cake.

I am a lot happier with reward obedience training.

Shiba Inu Sephy is responding much better to the reward methods and is more relaxed and happy.

I am a lot happier with reward obedience training.

Frankly, I do not have the temperament for implementing an aversive correction with enough force for my Shiba Inu. I was also losing my dog’s trust because I was over correcting and not protecting him from other people (e.g. dog walker) who were also over correcting him.

Sephy is responding much better to the reward methods and is more relaxed and happy.

Being an adolescent, he still misbehaves occasionally, but a lot less so than when I was using aversive methods, such as leash jerks and alpha rolls.

Shiba Inus are very strong willed and stubborn. A Shiba will almost always respond to an aversive stimulus by fighting back. The greater the stimulus, the more threat he feels, and the more he fights back.

This is not to say that aversive methods will never work on a Shiba Inu. As I discussed before, under the hands of an expert trainer (Gary), Sephy actually responded well to leash jerks. However, I have not seen him respond so with anyone else, even other experienced trainers.

The famous Shiba Inu grin.

What I learned from Shiba Inu Sephy:

• Get information from multiple sources and do not take what one person, even a popular trainer, says as truth. Do your own research and try out the techniques yourself.
• The “best technique” is different for every dog-owner pair. So called “experts” will try to brow beat you into using their favorite techniques by using moral arguments and/or by telling lies. The effectiveness of the different techniques will depend on your training skill (timing, delivery of stimulus), on your temperament, on your dog’s temperament, and on the current level of trust and respect between you and your dog. Be honest and let your own moral compass steer you.
• Start out with reward obedience training. With reward training there is very little risk of losing your dog’s trust. Unlike aversive training, I will not injure my dog physically or mentally if I make training mistakes. I follow the Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) program and try to be a fair but strong pack leader through the control of resources.
• Things can go really wrong with aversive methods. Our dog may misbehave more, get destructive or aggressive, lose respect and trust in us, get stressed and break down completely, run away, or get injured. Always get direction from a good professional trainer before trying out pain or dominance based aversive methods.

I love my Shiba Inu!